Behind him were a pack of six wolves, spectral and ghostly like the ones I’d seen in the park.
I barely had the time to enjoy being in Brayden’s arms again when I was ripped from them by an unseen force.
“Hello, little one.” Novus’ raspy voice wrapped around me and made my stomach churn.
Extreme cold surrounded my body as if I’d been plunged into frigid waters. Suspended in midair before Novus, I gasped as the iciness consumed my flesh. The leader of the Wild Hunt cocked his head to the side, examining me, his gaze roaming over my body as if deciding which organ he wanted to feast on first.
“No!” Brayden growled, and a wave of blue fire knocked into Novus, causing him to hiss and tumble backward.
The hold over me was broken, and I fell straight into Brayden’s waiting arms. Before I could process what was happening, Brayden was running, faster than I’d ever seen before. We were out of the great hall and into a green courtyard within seconds.
“Leah!” I panicked.
“Safe back on Earth. I can’t pull her power anymore.” He looked down at the ring on his hand. Maddy must have gotten her out, and the second she left this realm Brayden’s link to her Greywolf magic was lost. “Lora is closing the portals down, so we’re stuck here. I’m not sure I can get us back.” His eyes scanned the beautiful well-manicured gardens as if looking for a place to hide us.
The egg.
Reaching into my sock, I pulled out the portal egg and looked up at him. “Artemis.”
Brayden sighed in relief. “I owe that bastard.”
The back door to the ballroom opened just as Brayden threw the portal egg at our feet and we were sucked into a ball of green light.
SIX
As we landed on a gravel driveway, Brayden tucked me closer to his chest. I peered around, wondering where Artemis had sent us, and then frowned in confusion when I recognized the Amarok’s house.
Brayden and I seemed to realize at the same time that we were safe, together and finally alone.
“Averly,” he whimpered, and then his lips were on mine.
Reaching up, I threaded my fingers through his hair and primal need surged through me. Our tongues collided, and everything inside of me that I’d forced to not think about Brayden, not care about him, came to the surface. Pure passion rose up in my chest and butterflies took flight in my stomach.
He chose me. After all this time he waited for me, knowing I might not be Lena. A single tear rolled down my cheek and sealed our lips.
When he pulled back to look at me, his eyes were yellow. “Tell me Silas never hurt you or Maddy.”
I couldn’t lie to him. He’d hurt us plenty, but that was all done now.
“Silas is dead,” was all I said. “And so is Mace.”
Brayden’s brow furrowed. “How did you kill a Fae Lord? Without training?”
I was still in his arms and I didn’t think he was going to let me go anytime soon.
“I had training,” I corrected. “Maddy and Natalie and Castiel.”
He stiffened at that, and I quickly launched into the story about New York City and then seeing Artemis and Novus that day in the park. How Lora had taken us and I’d spent the last month with his brothers and sisters-in-law.
“Castiel is free now,” I told him. “We need to find him and release your power somehow. Then we can take on the rest of the Fae Lords and Novus.”
I was assuming Leah had full power, which was how Brayden was able to fight today using the ring. If we had myself, Leah, Castiel,andBrayden at full power, we totally stood a chance against them.
His scrunched brows hadn’t lifted. “I went to New York. I didn’t sense you there,” he said angrily.
“You went to New York looking for me?” Maybe he’d known that Silas had taken us there somehow.
Brayden’s face fell and he reached up and stroked my cheek. “Leah and I traveled to every major city in the country over the past year, showing pictures of you and Maddy and asking if anyone had seen you.”
